Environmental


Reducing exposure to complex environmental requirements is a challenge, especially in today’s dynamic climate of changing laws and regulations. Our experienced team of lawyers and policy advisors help clients navigate the rules, manage risk, and resolve disputes to meet compliance, sustainability, and ESG goals in a cost-effective manner.

Nationally Ranked for Environmental Law

From small-scale permitting concerns to multimillion-dollar enforcement actions, our team has the experience and background to help you tackle environmental challenges related to:

  • Agency inspections/enforcement
  • Air emissions
  • Audits
  • Chemical use/storage
  • Contaminated property redevelopment
  • Litigation
  • Hazardous waste management
  • Insurance
  • Lobbying
  • Permitting
  • Remediation
  • Reporting
  • Wastewater discharges
  • Wetlands

Environmental disputes can be some of the toughest and possibly the most harmful actions your business can face. We can help you with the following areas:

  • Handle enforcement actions in administrative and judicial venues where an agency seeks cost recovery, fines, corrective action, natural resource damages, and criminal sanctions
  • Prepare and respond to agency inspections and investigations, including those with criminal implications
  • Contest unfeasible or unreasonable permit conditions
  • Defense of private parties alleging environmental liability for remediation liability, cost contribution, property damage, and injuries to human health
  • Advise on insurance coverage for environmental liabilities

Purchasing a business, building, or land is an important step to meeting your organization’s goals. However, these transactions often involve properties with significant environmental conditions. Our team can help navigate the pitfalls through informed and detailed due diligence to ensure clients decisions are sound and help move deals forward maximizing all legal and contractual protections.

Our team has extensive experience in environmental, real estate, and tax law, as well as government policy. In addition, we have a keen understanding of brownfield projects involving the reuse and redevelopment of contaminated industrial and commercial properties. Our team works to:

  • Identify likely buyers and redevelopment opportunities
  • Work effectively with support of local governments for brownfield projects
  • Partner with environmental consultants, land use planners, engineers, and developers
  • Negotiate property transactions
  • Coordinate funding with other tax based incentives

Our team has broad experience assisting clients with regulatory matters and are prepared to help you through the most difficult actions allowing operations to continue that are consistent with your permit limits, sustainability, and ESG goals.

Our strong relationships with state and federal regulatory agencies help ensure a smoother, more efficient resolution. We advise on the application and negotiation of permits to build in the areas of:

  • Air
  • Waste management
  • Wastewater
  • Underground storage tanks
  • Site remediation
  • Spill reporting and response
  • Chemical use and storage
  • Consumer products

Polluted soil, sediment, and water can have harmful effects on not only the environment but also on the local community and on the reputation and finances of the entity connected to the contamination.

Our team helps you address potential liabilities by exploring settlements with agencies and private parties. We’ve advised organizations of all sizes in arming them with remedial options and strategies for effective outcomes.

For more than 30 years, we have advised multiple parties at large cleanup sites involving the settlement major natural resource damage claims involving rivers, groundwater, wetlands, wildlife, and parklands. Negotiations with the U.S. EPA and state agencies are a skill we don’t take lightly and ensure the appropriate remedial action is taken. Oftentimes this isn’t easy when there are a lot of parties involved.

We take on the heavy lifting to:

  • Negotiate contracts
  • Handle alternate water supply arrangements
  • Access agreements
  • Easements
  • Restrictive covenants

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